Washington Post headline/story:
MERCEDES PICKS ALABAMA AS PLANT SITE
Mercedes-Benz
AG said yesterday it will build a $300 million assembly plant in Vance,
Ala., ending six months of intense regional bidding for the German
automaker's first U.S. passenger vehicle plant.
From The Washington Post story about Mercedes selecting Alabama for its first plant:
"We were very impressed with Alabama's very good secondary and primary
school systems," said (Mercedes-Benz's chief engineer Dieter Zetsche, who led the site search) .
Zetsche, who also cited the state's university
system and high literacy rate.
Really? Someone did a great sales job!!!
From Mercedes:
About Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. (MBUSI)
Mercedes-Benz
announced in April 1993 that it would build its first passenger vehicle
manufacturing facility in the United States. This decision emphasized
the company’s globalization strategy and desire to move closer to its
customers and markets. In September of 1993, after an extensive,
six-month site selection process, the company chose Tuscaloosa County,
Alabama, as the location for its $300 million plant. Mercedes-Benz U.S.
International, Inc. (MBUSI) was formed to fulfill the goal of assembling
the Mercedes-Benz M-Class Sport Utility Vehicle for the worldwide
market.
Construction of the plant was completed in July 1996.
Operations began in January 1997, and the first M-Class vehicles went on
sale in the U.S. in September of that year.
MBUSI created a new
corporate culture, based on teamwork and open communication. The
combination of German & American team members, with experience from
U.S. and Japanese automakers, as well as from Mercedes-Benz, made the
“melting pot” in terms of its practices, procedures and corporate
culture.
In 1993, original projections were for 65,000 M-Class
vehicles to be assembled at the Tuscaloosa plant each year. Because of
overwhelming demand, MBUSI invested an additional $80 million in 1998
and 1999 to expand the plant and increase annual output by 20% to
80,000.
Besides Body, Paint and Assembly shops, also located on
the Tuscaloosa site are a comprehensive training facility, a visitor
center, a childcare and a health and wellness center.
As a result
of the worldwide success of the M-Class (now called the GLE),
Mercedes-Benz has continually invested, expanded, and more than tripled
operations at MBUSI. We assemble the GLE, GLS, GLE Coupe, and the
Mercedes-Maybach GLS for the world market. MBUSI also added the EQE SUV
and EQS SUV in 2022.
Roughly two-thirds of the components used in
MBUSI-assembled vehicles, come from North American suppliers, with the
remainder coming from suppliers all over the world. About 30 first- and
second-tier suppliers are now located in Alabama.
We distribute to 135 markets worldwide with 60% for export.
THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MBUSI:
- MBUSI has been located in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama since 1995
- MBUSI is the first large Mercedes-Benz plant outside Germany
- MBUSI
is the first major automotive plant in the State of Alabama – serving
as the catalyst for additional OEM, automotive suppliers, and supporting
businesses to come to the area
- MBUSI has more than 4,500
employees with an estimated additional 11,000 indirect jobs at suppliers
and service providers in the region
- MBUSI has, so far, invested
more than $7 billion including $1 billion to start production of
electric passenger cars, expand the plant’s logistics activities, and to
build a battery factory
- The MBUSI Consolidation Center started operating in 2019
- Construction activities for the battery factory started at the end of 2018; the battery factory launched operations in 2022
- MBUSI
assembles the GLS, GLE, GLE Coupe and the Mercedes-Maybach GLS
exclusively for the world market, MBUSI also added the EQE SUV and EQS
SUV in 2022
- MBUSI is the second largest automotive exporter in the U.S.
- Around two thirds of our SUVs assembled at MBUSI are being exported to almost every country in the world
- More than 4 million vehicles have been assembled since 1997
- There are almost 200 U.S.-based suppliers with localization rate continually increasing.